Directors

Will Holland, Chief Executive Officer

Will has considerable experience from various positions held in the international oil and gas industry over 30 years, notably in corporate, financial, operational and M&A roles. Will began his career as an engineer with Halliburton, a leading global oil field services company, where he spent much of his time focused on North Sea operations. He went on to lead teams at Macquarie Bank Limited, where he invested equity and pre-production structured debt into small and mid-cap upstream E&P companies. He has previously held executive roles at a number of publicly listed small cap E&Ps, including Tethys Oil AB. Will holds a B.Eng (Mech) from Warwick University and a MBA from Edinburgh Business School (Heriot-Watt University).

Alastair Stuart, COO, Executive Director

Alastair Stuart has over 30 years of experience in operational, commercial and technical roles in the energy and IT sectors. He has been a consultant working with Europa since 2012. As a 1982 graduate of Herriot Watt’s Masters programme in Petroleum Engineering, he began his career with Total CFP in Paris before joining Enterprise Oil in 1986, shortly after it was established, where he focussed on projects in the North Sea and the Far East. He was later promoted to New Ventures Manager, where he led the evaluation and progression of new ventures in South America, Eastern Europe and the Far East. After ten years with Enterprise, he worked briefly with Hardy Oil & Gas, before setting up his own consulting group in 1998 which developed processes and systems for managing capital allocation across large portfolios of investments in the oil & gas, pharmaceutical and venture capital sectors.

Brian O’Cathain, Independent non-executive Chairman

Brian has worked as a geologist and petroleum engineer in the oil and gas sector since 1984. He began his career with Shell International, and worked at Enterprise Oil and Tullow Oil in senior roles. He served as CEO of Afren plc to 2007, and as CEO of Petroceltic International plc, until 2016. He is a Non-executive Director of Eland Oil and Gas, an AIM listed company producing over 20,000bopd in Nigeria, and of Nephin Energy, a private gas producing company which is the largest equity holder in the Corrib Gas Field in Ireland. His skills include market understanding, fundraising, and the technical, legal and financial aspects of running a publicly-listed oil and gas company. He led and negotiated the agreed nil-premium merger of Petroceltic and Melrose Resources in 2012. He holds a BSc (First Class) in Geology from the University of Bristol. Brian keeps his knowledge and awareness current by participation in industry conferences, IOD workshops, and by networking with other directors and executives in the international oil and gas industry.

Simon Oddie, Independent non-executive Director

Simon has over 40 years of relevant experience as a petroleum engineer, technical consultant, manager and investment adviser in upstream oil and gas. He has worked with Schlumberger, ERC Energy Resource Consultants, Enterprise Oil and Gemini Oil and Gas Advisors LLP and gained extensive experience in technical, senior management and finance functions. He was CEO of Enterprise Italy during its first operated exploration drilling both on and offshore and was responsible for significant growth in the business. Simon recently was the architect of the Gemini Oil and Gas royalty funds where he established a solid track record in fundraising, investor relations and execution of oil and gas deals. He has completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School, and holds an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from Imperial College, and a BSc (First Class) in Electronics from The University of Manchester. Simon keeps his skills up-to-date through consultancy and participation in key professional societies and industry groups.

Stephen Williams, Independent non-executive Director

Since 2017, Stephen has held the position of Co-CEO of Reabold Resources, an AIM-traded, upstream oil and gas company focused on investing in late stage upstream opportunities. At Reabold, he has played a leading role in raising capital, building a diversified portfolio of investments in the UK, Romania and the US and, since 2018, the company’s participation in nine wells, eight of which have resulted in discoveries. Prior to Reabold, Stephen held various positions within both the energy and financial sectors including as a fund manager at Guinness Asset Management and, between 2010 and 2016, as an investment analyst at M&G focused on energy and resources. Between 2005 and 2010, he worked as an energy investment analyst for Simmons & Company International and from 2003 to 2005 as an analyst at ExxonMobil.